Jens Ludwig

Jens Ludwig is professor of social service administration, law, and public policy at the University of Chicago, a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is also an elected member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s (APPAM) policy council (board of directors), member of the editorial boards of Criminology, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and has served as the Andrew Mellon Visiting Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, as a visiting scholar to the Northwestern University / University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research, as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and as a National Academy of Education / Spencer Foundation postdoctoral research fellow. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Chicago he was professor of public policy at Georgetown University.

Ludwig’s research focuses on social problems in the area of poverty, education, and crime, and has been funded by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development and the Annie E. Casey, Smith Richardson, William T. Grant, Spencer and Joyce foundations. He has published in leading scientific journals on topics such as the social costs of gun ownership, the Brady Act, Project Exile, Head Start, WIC, housing voucher programs, and the effects of anti depressant drug treatment on suicide. His co-authored paper on race, peer norms and education was awarded APPAM’s Vernon Prize for best article. In 2006 he was awarded APPAM’s David Kershaw Prize for distinguished contributions to public policy by the age of 40.

Born in 1968 in Frankfurt, Germany, Ludwig received his bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in religion from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He received his doctorate in economics from Duke University in 1994.

Jens Ludwig is professor of social service administration, law, and public policy at the University of Chicago, a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is also an elected member of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s (APPAM) policy council (board of directors), member of the editorial boards of Criminology, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and has served as the Andrew Mellon Visiting Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, as a visiting scholar to the Northwestern University / University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research, as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and as a National Academy of Education / Spencer Foundation postdoctoral research fellow. Prior to joining the faculty of the University of Chicago he was professor of public policy at Georgetown University.

Ludwig’s research focuses on social problems in the area of poverty, education, and crime, and has been funded by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development and the Annie E. Casey, Smith Richardson, William T. Grant, Spencer and Joyce foundations. He has published in leading scientific journals on topics such as the social costs of gun ownership, the Brady Act, Project Exile, Head Start, WIC, housing voucher programs, and the effects of anti depressant drug treatment on suicide. His co-authored paper on race, peer norms and education was awarded APPAM’s Vernon Prize for best article. In 2006 he was awarded APPAM’s David Kershaw Prize for distinguished contributions to public policy by the age of 40.

Born in 1968 in Frankfurt, Germany, Ludwig received his bachelor’s degree in economics with a minor in religion from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He received his doctorate in economics from Duke University in 1994.

We don't see very important neighborhood effects on those two outcomes that people have focused on. But the things that people had been focused on and worried about with neighborhoods aren't the full story. Helping poor families is about a lot more than just increasing their income.